Characteristics: You combine powerful melee attacks with an excellent ability to absorb damage. You gain tremendous bursts of power through mighty rages. You have unusually high hit points for your role, making you more durable than other strikers.

Religion: Most barbarians revere the primal spirits of the natural world rather than calling on the gods of the Astral Sea. Some barbarians don’t see conflict between the gods and the primal spirits and therefore honor deities of nature or warfare in addition to the primal spirits. These barbarians often revere Kord, Melora, Avandra, or the Raven Queen. Evil or chaotic evil barbarians turn to Gruumsh or, more rarely, Bane or Zehir.

Races: Goliaths are ideal rageblood barbarians. Dragonborn make excellent thaneborn barbarians. Half-orcs are often barbarians but don’t favor either of the two types. Dwarf and shifter barbarians tend to be rageblood barbarians, while halfling and half-elf barbarians choose the thaneborn path.

The original barbarian is the subclass of barbarian introduced in the Player's Handbook 2. It is sometimes referred to as "o-barbarian" or simply "barbarian".[PHB2:48]

Role:Striker. You use powerful two-handed weapons to deal serious damage to your enemies. Your physical power and daunting presence can cause foes to cower before you, and you can temporarily increase your abilities by harnessing great bursts of terrifying rage. Depending on your choice of class features and powers, you lean toward either defender or leader as a secondary role.

Power source:Primal. You are a primal champion, a warrior devoted to the natural world and an embodiment of your tribe’s fierce traditions.

Barbarians connect with the natural world in a variety of ways. Some barbarians grow so hardened to physical punishment that they find it asier to simply absorb, rather than avoid, attacks. Others are living examples of the power of one’s will to shape one’s fate.

Choose one of the following options. The choice you make gives you the benefit described below and also provides bonuses to certain barbarian powers, as detailed in those powers.

When the barbarian reduces an enemy to 0 hit points with an attack, the barbarian gains temporary hit points. The number of temporary hit points at 1st level is equal to the barbarian's Constitution modifier, at 11th level, 5 + Constitution modifier, and at 21st level, 10 + Constitution modifier.

The barbarian can wield any one-handed weapon in the offhand and treat it as an off-hand weapon. In addition, once per round, if the barbarian's attack bloodies an enemy, the barbarian can shift 2 squares as a free action. Each enemy adjacent to the barbarian at the end of this shift grants combat advantage to the barbarian until the end of the barbarian's next turn.

Barbarian daily attack powers have the rage keyword. They allow you to unleash powerful bursts of emotion, willpower, and primal energy.
Each rage power starts with a mighty attack, and then you enter a rage, which grants an ongoing benefit.
At 5th level, you gain the Rage Strike power, which lets you channel an unused rage power into a devastating attack while you’re raging. Using rage strike is an alternative to using a second rage power in a climactic battle; it gives you the damage output of a daily power without forcing you to enter a different rage.[PHB2:49]

Once per round, when you score a critical hit with a barbarian attack power, you can immediately make a melee basic attack as a free action. You do not have to attack the same target that you scored a critical hit against.[PHB2:49]

When you use a barbarian primal attack power, you enter beserker fury until the end of the encounter. Alternatively, you can use a minor action while you are bloodied to enter the fury the fury has the following effects,

Your defender aura ends, if it was active, and you cannot use defender aura or vengeful guardian until the fury ends.

Some of your powers, such as your barbarian martial at-will attack powers, gain additional benefits, as noted in those powers.

Berserkers with the Vengeful Guardian class feature gain vengeful guardian as an at-will attack power. Vengeful guardian can be used as an opportunity action triggered by enemies within the berserker's defender aura shift or attack an ally without a defender aura.[HotF:44]

These feats have the barbarian class, or hybrid/multiclass barbarian, as a prerequisite. Additional prerequisites are noted. For example, characters who multiclass into barbarian do not necessarily gain the -Thaneborn Triumph feature, so may not qualify for feats requiring that feature.

Characters who did not start as barbarians and who do not already have a multiclass feat of a type other than multiclass barbarian may multiclass as barbarians by taking one of the following entry feats.

If the character takes a multiclass encounter, a multiclass utility, and a multiclass daily feat (such as Novice, Acolyte, and Adept Power), the character can paragon multiclass in barbarian instead of taking a paragon path. Paragon multiclassed barbarians select additional barbarian powers instead of paragon path powers.